Ancora?

For some reason Italy has decided to boost it's seismic activity this year. We had an earthquake on the 20th of May at about 4 in the morning. The center was around a city called Ferrara about 1 hour and 30 minutes from Vicenza. I happened to be at my friends house in Belluno (the mountains). At the center it was 5.9 on the rector scale and lasted for about 20 seconds. We felt it pretty good, that is to say Alma didn't wake up but everyone else in the house felt it. But Alma's from Iceland, so earthquakes aren't that big of a deal.

Then today around 9 we had another one of about 5.8. Seriously we need to do some more practice drills and probably counsel some of the girls in my class. I can say that screaming and then bursting into tears isn't going to get you out of the building any faster. We than evacuated the building and waited in a near by park for an hour or so. The principle of the school said it was safe to go back to school and so we went. Thirty minutes later there was another smaller about 4.7 and we just waited. About an hour later another but this time a lot smaller. But we never were sent home. Then at about 1 there was another strong one and the entire school was evacuated and we were sent home. Keep in mind it's better if we go home because all the buildings are so old. For example my school has been around since the 1800's. Pretty sure that building is not going to last long.

Anyway please keep in your prayers the families of the people who died today as well as peace of mind for those who are close to the center of the earthquakes. They were just starting to get in the swing of things after the earthquakes on May 20th and then were hit again. This time was worse too because all the buildings that were damaged last time just collapsed this time.

Brighter news! My baby cousin Mattia was born the 22nd of May. Mother and baby are doing wonderful. I don't remember going to see Emmett in the hospital after he was born because I was too small so this was a really cool experience. It's been fun to be around a new-born. He's a very chill guy, doesn't cry alot. Just eats, sleeps and looks around all while being possibly the most perfect newborn ever.

I can't believe this will all be over in about 39 days. Even the other day out of the blue Paola said while we were eating lunch together 'I'm going to miss you a lot. Especially at this time of the day because once you're gone no one will be here to talk with me.' Thinking about leaving has already me cry and I don't know how I'll do it. I can't imagine packing up everything and pulling my suitcases back down the stairs and saying goodbye. I remember how hard it was to leave India with my friends, a boyfriend I loved, Jaya and Jogender but I honestly can't even imagine leaving here. Here I leave behind a whole other family. A mom, dad and brothers. Friends who I've felt like I've known for years when in fact it's only been 8 months. Yet at the same time I can't wait because I know I'm going home to a mom and dad and siblings who I miss like crazy. It's the weirdest feeling. High school foreign exchange is an incredible thing and I would encourage everyone to do it. They don't kid around when the say it's one of the best years of your life.

Birthday (:

So my 17th birthday has pretty much come and gone. It was beautiful. Paola, Romeo and the boys got me a very nice pair of sandals for summer and then tonight we all went out for dinner. It was nothing extravagant or extra-special. But that's what made it special - the fact that we were just family doing a simple, normal birthday celebration. Lorenzo asked if I was going to stay here forever and Paola explained I have a home somewhere else and I have to go back. We had normal birthday talk, went through all the boys birth stories, gave guesses on what we'll all be doing 20 years from now and Paola and Romeo told us what they did when they were 17. When we were talking about 20 years from now Paola and Romeo laughed at the idea of how big the table will have to be in 20 years. Then both talked about how I'm going to bring my kids here and they will be Nonna Paola and Nonno Romeo. I think that's really cool. That my foriegn exchange isn't just affecting my life, but also my childrens. That they're going to grow up with family in Italy: Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. That's really a beautiful thing. You can never have too much family. The restaurant is one of those lovely little places you think of when you think Italy. Stone buildings, low trees, statues and when we walked outside they all sang happy birthday 'tanti auguri' to me. Life is good.

On a fun note my Aunt Chiara is supposed to give birth to her third baby soon. In fact she's way over her due-date. Last night she dialated 5 cm and everyone thought she was going to have the baby today! The baby decided to put things on hold so we're still waiting but it would have been cool if he was born on the 15th of May too.

Xx

Vitaaaaa

I'm so sorry, I miss a whole month! Things have been pretty busy.
In April I went on the 'Settimana di Scambio' which is basically exchange within in an exchange. I went to Naples and lived with a family there. We visited schools and talked about our countries, did silly tourist things and ate alot of food. The food in Naples is amazing. At home, to me, it was the same sort of stuff I eat here. But I mean the street food, they have incredible street food. Alot of it's fried (which is maybe why I like it so much). They fry the craziest stuff, like pasta noodles. It sounds kinda nasty but it's really good. They speak different Italian there too, in fact Napolitana is not only a dialect. It's a complete other language. I mean there are specific grammar rules for it and everything. And there are people in Naples that don't speak Italian, only Napolitana. For example, one night my friend Wanda and I were catching the bus home and we didn't know what time it arrived. We kindly asked two old men who were waiting at the stop. Now you have to understand that because Napolitana and Italian are similar, we can understand it. So the old men start talking about how we aren't speaking Italian and how we must be foreign. No my dear old friends, we are speaking Italian, the problem is that you don't know Italian. We eventually got home okay, so it didn't matter but I still think it's crazy that if you put those two old men somewhere else in Italy they would have a hard time getting by because they never learned Italian. Anyway Naples was amazing and I wish we had more 'week exchanges' throughout the year.

Now I'm back home and life is pretty normal. School is good. This picture popped up on facebook the other day and I think I about died of laughter...

This is so true! I woke up in the middle of the night last week and couldn't get back to bed and as I lied awake thinking about what was bothering me so such, I realized that we only have three months of exchange left. Then I didn't sleep for the rest of night. Also I feel like every exchange student has this moment for example my friend Solveig texted me at 2 am four days ago saying 'Shit, Isabelle we only have 3 months left'. Alot of the times I guess it happens while you're trying to get to bed, or perhaps like this poor boy at a disco. Wherever it is the entire moment kinda sucks. I can't believe it's gone so fast. I don't want to go home but at the same time I do. When people ask me what I miss this most I say 'My family, my dog and salsa from Ixtapa'. I can pretty much say after this that I don't really want to be away from my family, Tula and Ixtapa for this long again. It sucks just as much to be away from them as it does to have exchange coming to an end. So as you can see it's a very bitter-sweet thing. I'll miss my Paola and Romeo and all the boys but I'm actually very excited to see all of my family, take showers without having to blow dry my hair, eat English muffins for breakfast, go camping. All the stuff I can't do here. Also my sister, Hannah came and visited for Easter so I'm sure that seeing her made me super excited to go home.

As for crazy happenings. In case you didn't hear my phone was stolen and long story short, I chased the robber and cussed, yelled and cried until he and his friends gave me my phone back. I understand that it's not a very wise thing to do, but hey I'm fine, I've got my phone and now there's a group of about 35 Moroccan men in Vicenza who I've scared the living daylight out of. Apparently some of them were also attracted to my massive bitch fit because now I get hit on my them too. Other crazy things? I pissed of a ten year-old on Tuesday. I was walking down the street with my friend and this boy threw his empty water-bottle on the floor. It's not like he was aiming for the trash and missed, he just threw it on the floor because he was fed up with holding it. I'm sorry boy but I've never been one for littering, I think it's trashy. So yes I did say 'WOW.....nice' and not only because it bothered me that you don't have the class to wait to find a trash bin but also because when you throw an empty bottle on cobblestone it makes a pretty big-noise and I was startled. Anyway this boy looked at me and in Italian yelled "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" and I said "Nothing." and kept on walking. Then this boy ran after being screaming "NOOO WHAT DID YOU SAY?" and his mom then ran after him and grabbed onto him so he wouldn't get to me. Even if he had gotten to me I could've taken him, he was little and chubby but seriously kid? Take a chill pill. And yes if your mother's not going to teach you how to be a nice respectful boy,  I will.

In the end, I love my life here and I'm sad I have to leave but I'm excited too. I hope I'll write soon, sorry about the long gap. This post is actually thanks to my dad, who reminded me this morning that I do in fact have a blog. I love you Dad Xxx

You know you're a part of the family when...

·         You share a bed with your host brother

·         When your little host brother introduces you like this “This is my sister, my American sister”

·         When they don’t need to know ask what pizza you would like for dinner

·         When you are recruited to look for more underwear for your brothers

·         When your host brother tells people to “Not make fun of the American accent”

·         When your entire family corrects your grammar mistakes

·         When your become your host brothers alarm clock

·         When your host brother waits to go to sleep until you and your cousin return from a ‘discopub’ because he was “Afraid someone would murder you and bury you under the snow”

·         When you watch Lord of the Rings with your little host brother and both get really excited about the talking tree part

·         When you braid your host cousins hair every night

·         When the entire family is comfortable walking around the house in their underwear

·         You’re asked to take the garbage out

·         When you told “We left the maid at home this week”

·          You have your brothers open mustard and mayo cans for you

·         When your little brother is waiting in the doctor’s office and draws a picture of his mom, his dad and you inside a house.

·         When you openly discuss which boys you find attractive and which you do not with your family

·         When your host dad buys you tampax

My Eavesdropping Abilities have been Severely Compromised.

So I'm at this really cool part in learning a new language where I can follow a complete conversation and give my input to the conversation. However something I've really begun to miss is eavesdropping. That may seem kinda bad but I'm really good at it. Ask my parents. But here in Italy I'm not able to follow a conversation that's happening in the kitchen from my bedroom or when I'm out to lunch I can't creep on the people next to me because I have to focus on the Italian conversation I'm having with someone. Oh the art of following two conversations at the same time. When I get back to the States I'm going to go on an eavesdropping frenzy. Don't say I didn't warn you family, everyone who sits next to me at restaurants and those who stand next to me in the check-out line. Anyway and example of this (though not exactly eavesdropping) is the other night before dinner Paola was talking to me about some current event while Lorenzo was talking to me about monster trucks. I couldn't follow either conversation. So I had to pick one. Monster trucks won. But it's just frustrating because I love being involved in multiple conversations (or involved without permission). I also now dream in Italian. Sometimes all Italian. Sometimes all English and other times a mix of both.

How's the family? Things are good. We are heading up to the mountains to go skiing for a week on the carnival break. Lorenza cut his hair himself, without a mirror. Paola was horrified. I laughed and all the brothers told him he looked cool and he modestly replied "I know". He has since then offered to cut Paola's hair, she politely declined. Though she told me the other day in the car she is terrified that one days a parent of one of Lorenzo's friends is going to call inquiring about why their child came home with no hair.

School? School's fantastic. I wrote my first essay in Italian at school. It was only about my American family but my Italian teacher was very proud and asked if she could cry when I handed it in. All my classmates have presentations about an english-speaking country and my friend Andrea has problems with pronuciation, so I went through her notes and wrote the 'italian spelling' for the English words she has problems with. For example the word "Jewish" she couldn't pronouce because Italian doesn't have a 'J' so I wrote "Giuesh" and now she can say Jewish. It's fantastic. Then after school today I went to a friends house and helped her study English verb tenses for a test tomorrow. I think she's pretty ready. Anyway when we got to her house it was lunch time and she's like we only have Pizza. But not only Pizza, homemade Pizza by her Uncle. Only homemade by your uncle pizza? well this lunch is going to suck. NOT. And she was worried the whole time that I didn't like it and that there was only Pizza. She's too sweet. It was wonderful pizza (:

TERREMOTO!

I get to at Italy to the list of countries I've experienced earthquakes in! How exciting (:
Anyway last night around 1 in the morning there was an earthquake (4.1), I was too sleepy to feel it. But at school this morning around 9 we had another one this was about (5.1). In case you didn't realize all the buildings in Italy are really really old. So they started evacuating kids from school right after it happened, in case of a bigger earthquake. They started evacuating at the top floor and then worked there way down to the bottom. My class is at the top floor. However we had an interrogazione di italiano and the teacher said we couldn't leave because we had to do the interrogazione. There wasn't another earthquake but I would just like to applaud the safety ethnics of my Italian teacher. Grazie Mille. If there was I don't think she's going to want to take responsibility for the 30 students that didn't get out of Pigafetta before the building collapsed. Boh if she's cool with than I'm cool with it.

 

Io abito in una casa dei ragazzi.

I live in a house of boys.

Today at dinner Lorenzo stuck his hot dog with a LEGO sword and proceeded to dangle it in front of my face while burping rhythmically.

I love boys.

Praise the Lord for Mexican food!

I found it!
Mexican food in Venice.

On Sunday I had a girls day with my friends Solveig (Iceland) and Renata (Brazil) in Venice. It's hard to believe but we found a little Mexican restaurant in the middle of nowhere Venice. I think it was a Mexican food and sandwich place because in the middle of the menu there were a couple pages of club sandwich's (?). I had a burrito the size of Jupiter and I ate the entire thing. It was a pretty mean burrito, I mean not very authentic but it tasted very good so there's nothing to complain about. After 5 months without it, most Mexican food will taste good even if it's a little off. Warning: This theory does not apply in countries such as India or Austria. Do not eat Mexican food in India or Austria. But it's really nice to taste other food sometimes. I've had dinner once at a sushi restaurant, once at a Chinese place and once at a Mexican place since I've been here. Don't get me wrong I love Italian food and I love Paola's cooking but here let's do the math. I have pasta 2 times a day (Lunch and Dinner), there are 7 days in a week, about 4 weeks in a month, and I've been here almost 5 months. That's about 280 bowls of pasta. As for pizza I eat it once or twice a week so I'm going to do a little estimating and say that's about 24 pizzas. Also I've lost 5 kilo's since I've been here. Odd right? In conclusion, I think I'll be going to the little sandwich/Mexican place in Venice much more often.

As for what else is going on in Italy. This semester I get grades in all my classes (: yaay! Thankfully I understand math so far. But considering it's only the second week we'll have to wait and see. I have an exchange week coming up in February or March and I'll most likely be going to Sicily or somewhere in the way South of Italy. My Italian is getting much better. When I was waiting for my train on Sunday I ran into the two most important people in Intercultura Vicenza. I was at first very disappointed because I enjoy taking the train by myself and it was way to early in the morning to speak Italian properly. However, they were very impressed and told me I have gotten much better. We then proceeded to sit in first class with a second class ticket, later we got kicked out. I got the influenza last night. Which was really fun considering I had an appointment to get my residence permit today but was too sick to go the the appointment. Also my family probably thinks they got a very sickly daughter. We were talking at dinner last night and all my brothers think it's amazing I can spend 20 minutes in the bathroom (20 minutes is not a long time). I said It was because I have to dry my hair and Romeo told me I should cut it off so it takes less time to dry, he suggested I could then sport a wig. Sorry to the boys of the Salin family I will not be cutting my hair. Also we got a puppy, her name is Lilli. She's a very good girl. However I'm still on the cat side of life here. While I was getting sick in the bathroom last night a cat joined me and sat next to me until I was finished. What would I do without these cats.  I'm very jealous to know that Seattle is getting hammered with snow. We have no snow. No snow. Not even in the mountains. Grandma and Grandpa thank you for the package (: Grandma Lou I don't have your card but I wouldn't worry because the post is VERY slow here. I hope all is well xx

Solveig!

Italy we thank you your historical pasta.

Natale & Capodanno & La Befana

It's been another month! Sorry I don't update so much. I just always have alot to do and keep forgetting about the blog..sorry. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (: For Christmas this year I had a lovely dinner of Burger King with the family. When then came home and opened the adult's and older children's presents. Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) brought me some clothes and a new pair of shoes. Then we went to Christmas Mass. Which was actually pretty cool because they sing all the same hymns we sing just with different lyrics. So I just sing along in English. Then we all went to bed and in the morning Lorenzo opened his gifts from Babbo Natale. Next we headed over to Romeo's parents house along with Romeo's 3 sisters and all their children and who guess who was there?..yes, that's right. Babbo Natale himself, or one of Nonno Salin's very close friends dressed up as Babbo Natale. So all the kids got more presents and then we went back home and started getting ready for lunch. For lunch Paola's brother, sister-in-law and their children came. Aswell as her sister-in-laws parents. We ate Tortillini, a castrated chicken (I'm not sure exactly what  was up with that but Nonna Vittoria made it very clear the day before the chicken or rooster was castrated and I wasn't really intereseted in asking anything else), sausage with all sorts of vegtables, and pig legs. Then we had this cake called Panetonne, which is basically just a really tall cake made with lots or butter and sometimes you can get chocolate or raisins in it. I don't really care for it. To me it tastes like dry cake. But italians really enjoy it and it's the 'main' christmas treat so I've had it quite a bit for the holidays; at school, at home, at friends houses, at parties etc.

As for New Year's eve. I went with my friend Sara to a party at her friends house. There were some boys and girls from school but the rest were all new people. I thought it was funny because the boy who was hosting it parents weren't home and so this boy and his friends made 30 people a full course italian meal. Pasta, Meat, Vegtables and Desert. It might have been easier to order pizza or have the party start at 11 so you didn't have to cook for 30 people. But no the party started at 8 and he had to make dinner for us all. It was very good though. Niccolo I applaud your cooking. Then we danced and hung out until midnight you go around to every person and kiss them and say 'Auguri' which doesn't have a literal translation but I think pretty much means 'Blessings'. Romeo and Paola picked me up at about 2:30 and then we all went home and slept (:

There is another holiday here that we don't have in America. It's called La Befana (which means the Witch) and it takes place on the night of January 5/ the morning of January 6. This is the suppossed day when the wise men reached Bethleham. Very relgious people go to church on this day. But it's called La Befana because on the night of January la befana visits your house and put candy or coal in your sock. Depending on wether you've been good or bad. This year the witch didn't come to our house Romeo, Giorgio and Lorenzo went to Centro (the center of town) where the witches had set up a candy market. Romeo bought me a T-Shirt that says "baciarmi prima il mio ragazzo arriva" (kiss me before my boyfriend arrives) and all the older boys got t-shirst with witty things written on them too. And the next morning Lorenzo had ate so much candy he started getting allergic reaction so he had to stop eating it.

Other things I did on break? I went a few times to Venice (Mestre really) to visit Nick. And Nick came to Vicenza aswell. I also went to Asiago with some friends from my school to go skiing. If you've ever heard of Asiago cheese. Yes, that's where it comes from and it's a very cute town. Other than that just alot of hanging out and sleeping.

Right now things are going really well. I speak completely in Italian at home and the other day I actually spoke in venetian dialect without knowing it and Paola corrected me so that I know not to say in outside of this region. Otherwise people won't be able to understand me. Words are so funny! In Italian we have words with double meanings. The best example is the word for bird (uccello). Uccello also happens to be a word for penis. Sooo you can imagine that living in a house full of boys I've gotten quite used to jokes with the word uccello. Funny story: Nick and I broke up just because it wasn't working and he lives a ways away but anyway Paola was concerned about me and asked if I was okay after it happened and I said "Il mare è pieno di pesci." (the sea is full of fish) and she said "Sì, il mundo è pieno di ragazzi, il mare è pieno di pesci e il cielo è pieno di uccelli."(Yes, the world is full of boys, the sea is full or fish and the sky is full of birds/penis'). We both decided that saying 'il cielo è pieno di uccelli' is a much more fitting proverb for this situation (: Romeo was a bit disturbed when we told him after he arrived home.

Quick thing about what I did this morning. I didn't go to school and instead I went to Immigration Office. I would like to tell you that the Immigration Office in Italy wins compared to the Immigration Office in Delhi but now by much. But we only had to wait for about an 1 hour and 15 minutes and then we asked a guy about it because we had an appointment at 9:58 and they still hadn't called us and he was like "Okay yeah" and then he did our paperwork. So apparently if we had never asked we would have stayed there all afternoon. Then I went to the post office and got a package from Grandma Doe and Grandpa Milt. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I loved it. And after I picked it up I met Paola at the bank and the ladies in the bank we so excited about it they made me open it in the Post Office. So now Grandma and Grandpa the Italian Post Office in Vicenza know's who you are and also what you look like (They loved the picture, as did I). And Dad I have a message from Nonno Giancarlo. He wanted me to tell you that "Tutti gli avvocati sono baditi" (All lawyers are bandits). Paola and I aren't sure what he means by that; he's a little crazy. Sorry but I'm not spellchecking this because I must go to italian class so I apologize for the errors. My English is getting pretty bad. Last week I completely forgot the word Oven and could only things of the italian word for it (Forno). I think that's a good thing though (: I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and I'll try to update again soon.